His comments came weeks after SP suffered a humiliating rout against BJP despite forging an alliance with Congress in the recently-held assembly elections in the politically crucial state.

Prior to polls, the SP family had witnessed a political turmoil with Akhilesh sidelining Mulayam and his influential brother Shivpal before taking over the reins of the party. The Samajwadi Party could only manage to win 47 seats in the 403-member assembly.

Reacting to Mulayam Singh’s comments, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the SP patriarch was once a socialist leader and added that today he is neither leader of his brother nor of his son.